Fan support



'Dec. 1, 1942. M. w; HUMPHREYS 0 FAN SUPPORT Filed Feb. 26. 1940 IINVENTOR. 30 Y Mae/arr (war /rears ATTORNEY 5 Patented Dec. 1, 1942 FANSUPPORT Marion W. Humphreys, Euclid, Ghio, assignorto The Ohio RubberCompany, Willoughby, Ohio,

a corporation of Ghio Application February 25, 1940, Serial No. 320,766

This invention relates to fans, that is to say, motor driven fansgenerally known as the household type of fan, and, in certain of itsaspects, is an improvement on the construction shown in my priorapplication Serial No. 240,802 filed No vember 16, 1938.

In my prior application I have disclosed a fan wherein the base,standard, motor housing, and blade unit are all formed of rubber withthe base, standard, and housing constituting unit which may be moldedfrom rubber in one piece or part with the housing of this unit receivingthe motor. The blade unit is also preferably molded in one piece and iscomposed a series of blades integral with the blade carrier which isadapted to be fastened to a disk, shaft, or other blade rotating memberof the motor.

The unit of my prior application composed of the base, standard, andhousing is of semisoft rubber, and the standard portion of the unit haspreferably embedded therein a flexible hollow shaft through which theconductors may be led from a point beneath the base up to the motor.There is thus provided a fan which is quiet in operation since it doesnot transmit, to any material extent, sound or mechanical vibrations tothe table or other support on which the fan is placed. Furthermore,since the standard is lien ible, it can be bent to any position and atany angle so that a wide latitude is afforded in vary, ing the directionin which the air currents directed without requiring a pivot point to betightened and loosened by adiusting a thumb nut.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a fan whichpossesses most if not all the advantages of the fan of'my priorapplication particularly in the respects that it quiet in operation andserves as an insulator of sound and mechanical vibrations between thepart and the support on which the fan placed, and which has theadditional advantas not possessed by the fan ofmy prior applied in therespect that provision is made for the automatic oscillation of themotor and the blade unit.

The above and other objects are attained by the present invention whichbe briefly marized as consisting in certain novel details constructionand combinations and arre ngements of parts hereinafter described andclaimed.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings wh in I have shown two forms of myinvention,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 is apartial side elevation and a partial section through the baseand standard of the fan of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken through thebifurcated joint at the top of the standard;

Fig. 4 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in section showinga modification, only a fragment of the motor being here illustrated;

and

Figs. 5 and 6 are transverse sectional views substantially along thelines 55 and 6-6 respectively of Fig. 4.

Referring now to the drawing and first to the construction shown inFigs. 1, 2, and 3, the base and standard unit is composed of a base Hiand a standard I l formed of semi-soft rubber and preferably molded inone piece. Both the base and the standard may be formed of solid rubberbut they are preferably hollowed to conserve rubber and thereby reducethe cost and weight. The motor switch may be mounted on a suitable partof the base it or elsewhere, as on the standard H and in Fig. l I haveshown the switch 5'2 mounted on the base Hi. If desired, the conductorsmay be brought into the interior of the base or standard to terminals ofthe switch and then brought out from the hollow portion of the unitthrough one or more openings such as shown at i211 in Fig. 2.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 a pivot joint isprovided between the top of the standard I l and a part connected withthe motor, and in this instance the top of the standard is bifurcated asshown at is and through the arms of the fork or bifurcation holes H! areformed to receive a pivot bolt. The motor itself may be of any suitableconstruction and hence the details of the same are not illustrated. Themotor housing is illustrated in Fig. 1 at E5 and as here shown issomewhat projectile shaped. The rotor 'of'the motor (not shown) isadapted to drive the blade unit designated as a whole by the referencecharacter it. This blade unit is preferably'made like the blade unit inmy prior application in which case it will be composed of a plurality offlexible blades ltd and a blade carrier 1% which together with theblades may be molded as a unit and is preferably formed from semi-softrubber. The blade carrier Nib may be in the form of a thin conicallyshaped elastic member conforming to the curvature of the housing 05 andthe part adjacent the housing may be stretched and snapped over a diskdriven by the motor as in myprior application.

As the fan herein illustrated is of the oscillating type, the housing l5of the motor is provided on the lower side with a fixed depending pin I!which is journaled in the socket of a joint member l8 which fits betweenthe arms of the bifurcation or fork at the upper end of the standard IIand is pivotally connected thereto by means of a transverse bolt I9passing through the aligned openings of the fork and the joint memberI8. Thus the motor and the blade unit can be tilted to any desiredposition, but inasmuch as the standard is formed of semi-soft rubber,the joint member l8 may beheld frictionally between the arms of the forkor bifurcation [3 so that when it is desired to change the position ofthe motor and blade units this can be done without the necessity ofloosening the joint by turning a thumb nut on the threaded end of thebolt l9 as is customary in standard constructions. In other words, thenut on the bolt l9 may be adjusted to give the desired fit or frictionalengagement between the arms of the fork l3 and the joint member l8, andwhen it is desired to change the angle of the motor and the blade unitthis can be done by simply grasping the motor in one hand and tilting itto the;

desired position, thus turning the joint member 18 between the rubberarms of the fork or bifurcation l3 and without the necessity of changingthe frictional grip between the parts of the joint.

The oscillating mechanism may be of standard construction commonly usedin oscillating fans and therefore the same need not be illustrated incomplete detail. It will be sufiicient to state that this oscillatingmechanism includes the usual motor driven disk 2!! to which is connectedat an'off-center point a link 2| pivotally connected to a fixed arm 22secured to the top of the joint member 18. Thus the rotation of themotor slowly rotates the disk 20, and by the connection between the link2| and the arm 22 causes the usual oscillation of the fan. Any suitablemeans may be provided for preventing endwise movement of the pin H inthe socket of the joint member l8 as by means of a fixed radial pinwhose inner end extends into an arcuate slot of the pin I! as fullyillustrated in Fig. 6. In Fig. 3 I have shown sucha pin Ha fixed in thejoint member I3 with its inner end extending into a slot of the pin I!which slot will be of sufficient arcuate length or extent to permit thefull oscillating stroke of the motor.

It will be seen that I have provided a fan of the oscillating typeconnected to the top of the standard by a joint which will permit themotor and blade unit to be tilted to any desired position withoutloosening any part at the joint and that the oscillatable and tiltablefan is supported on a semi-soft base-and-standard unit of such a shapethat it constitutes a stable support for the fan but at the same timesubstantially insulates the motor and blade unit from the support onwhich the fan is placed against the transmission of mechanical and soundvibrations which latter provides for quiet or silent operation of thefan when in use. At the same time, the base, being formed of rubber,will not mar a polished surface on which the fan may be supported.

The construction shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 6 has all the advantages ofthe construction shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, and, in addition, providesfor the tilting of the motor and blade unit through the flexibility ofthe standard, and this is accomplished without interfering with theoscillating mechanism. With this form of my invention,-

the base and standard unit is of semi-soft rubber, and, as before, maybe molded in one piece. It is composed of a base designated 23 and astandard designated 24. In this instance there is molded in the standarda hollow flexible shaft or conduit 25 the lower end of whichcommunicates with a hollow portion of the base 23 and the upper end ofwhich is suitably attached to the lower end of a sleeve 26 which isfitted into the upper end of the standard 24. The hollow flexible shaft25 and the sleeve 26 may be secured together as by soldering orotherwise, and the unit composed of the two parts may be molded in thestandard. The lower part of the motor housing I5 is provided at thebottom with a swivel extension 21 having a shank extending down into andswivelled in the sleeve 26, this extension 21 having a shoul- 'der 21awhich engages or rests upon the upper end of the sleeve 26. The swivelextension is hollow and the upper end of the passageway extendingtherethrough communicates with the interior of the motor. Any suitablemeans may be provided for preventing endwise movement between the swivelextension and the sleeve should the motor be turned on its side orupside down and this is accomplished in this instance by a pin 28 whichextends laterally through the upper part of the standard 24 and throughthe sleeve, and its inner end engages in an arcuate slot 29 formed inthe shank of the swivel extension 21. The arcuate extent of the slot 29is such as not to limit the oscillation of the motor and blade unitwhich oscillation is accomplished by mechanism such as illustrated inFig. 1, the rotating disk 20 being connected as before by a link 2| toan arm 22 which may be fixed or suitably secured to the upper end of thesleeve 26.

As shown in Fig. 4, the conductors here designated 30 pass through anopening 3| at the lower edge of the base 23 and are extended up throughthe hollow flexible shaft 25 and through the hollow extension 21 andinto the motor housing l5. Thus the conductors are wholly concealed fromthe point where they enter the base through the opening 3| and in no wayinterfere with the oscillation or tilting of the motor and the bladeunit. As in the preceding construction, the motor switch may be mountedeither on the base 23 or on the lower part of the standard 24, and theconnections will be made with the switch before the conductors areextended up through the hollow flexible shaft 25.

With this construction a swivel bifurcated joint is unnecessary for thereason that the motor and blade unit can be tilted by simply bending thestandard 24 by manually applied force, and when this is done theflexible shaft will hold the standard in its bent position. In thisconnection it might be noted that with the construction first describedand in fans generally, the motor and blade unit can be tilted only in aplane at right angles to the axis of the bolt I9 whereas in theconstruction shown in Figs. 4 to 6 the motor and blade unit can betilted in any direction.

Thus it will be seen that my construction has marked advantages over theusual fan constructions involving the use of a cast metal base andstandard and that the construction also has cer tain advantages overthat illustrated in my prior application.

While I have shown two forms of the present invention, I do not desireto be confined to the precise details shown but aim in my claims tocover all modifications which do not involve a departure from the spiritand scope of my invention. Furthermore, the term rubber as used hereinis intended to include either natural or artificial rubber, as forexample, those materials which are generally known under the tradenamesNeoprene, Perbunam, Thiokol, and Koroseal, and is intended to includealso other equivalent plastics which have the essential characteristicsof rubber particularly in semi-soft state.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A support for an electric fan comprising a base and a standardconnected therewith and provided at its upper end with means formounting an electric motor carrying a blade assembly, said standardbeing formed from semi-solt rubber and being flexible and bendable undermanually applied force to permit tilting of the motor, and a flexibleelement embedded in said standard and serving to retain the standardsubstantially in the desired position to which it is bent by saidmanually applied force.

2. A support for an electric motor carrying a blade assembly and alsoprovided with a swivel extension, comprising a base and standard moldedfrom semi-soft rubber, a swivel element carried by the upper end of saidstandard and adapted to receive said swivel extension of the motor, saidstandard being flexible and bendable under manually applied force forsupporting the motor in a desired relatively tilted position of fanoperation, and a flexible shaft embedded in said standard and serving toretain the standard substantially in the desired position to which it isbent by said manually applied force.

3. A support for an electric fan comprising a base and standard moldedfrom semi-soft rubber, and means on the upper end of the standard formounting an electric motor carrying a blade assembly, said standardbeing flexible and bendable under manually applied force for tilting themotor to a desired position of fan operation and having a flexiblehollow conduit extending therethrough and molded therein.

4. A support for an electric motor carrying a blade assembly and alsoprovided with a swivel extension, comprising a base and standard moldedas a unit from semi-soft rubber, said standard being flexible andbendable under manually applied force for tilting the motor to a desiredposition of fan operation and having a flexible hollow conduit extendingthere'through. and a socket member connected with said conduit andmolded in the upper end of the standard and adapted to receive saidswivel extension therein.

MARION W. HUMPHREYS.

